Participation Trophies Send A Dangerous Message By Betty Berden Summary

In the article, “Participation Trophies Send a Dangerous Message” by Betty Berden, it states that kids should not receive participation trophies. Berden explains in her article that trophies should only be awarded to winners. They achieved the overall goal of winning. If kids constantly receive these participation trophies, it gives them a false message that everyone is a winner. Berden implies, “Trophies

Imagine being a young kid playing on a soccer field, very skilled at the sport, but at the end of the game, every kid goes home with the same trophy. This can make one feel like their work is just as good as everyone else's, when it is in reality much more advanced. In contrast, this makes the other kids happy and gives them a sense of what winning feels like. This is an example of the controversy surrounding awarding trophies to children in the passages “Participation Trophies Send a Dangerous Message,” by Betty Berden and “Participation Trophies Send a Powerful Message,” by Parker Abate. Berden portrays her opinions through appealing to real life and pun, while Abate uses appeal to emotion and comparison.

As Abate says, “children today need as much of that as they can get in our society.” Parker says trophy’s and not receiving one yourself can be degrading. In addition to acknowledging their effort, they also receive trophies or certificates, reminding them that they were a part of the

Not everyone is a winner. In the passages, “Participation Trophies Send a Dangerous Message,” by Betty Berden and, “Participation Trophies Send a Powerful Message,” by Parker Abate, this controversy is explored. Berden analyzes the way participation trophies affect not only the child receiving the trophy, but how that would affect them later in life. Abate claims trophies allow children to feel accomplished. But participation trophies are dangerous because the trophies set the children up for a false reality and are not valuable.

What will parents think when their kid gets a trophy for nothing? These next paragraphs will tel you why i say no to trophies.

Really all the trophies should go to the kids that actually do all the work. They should not just give the trophies to the kids that do nothing. Kids should not just get a trophy for just showing up and sitting on the bench the whole

Participation trophies only hurt kids. These trophies have been given out in many sports for decades but they do not mean much to older children. Something as simple as golden painted plastic will not keep a child playing for long after their first years. Children must also be taught how to compete early on. These trophies create a lack of competition in youth athletes and should not be given to children above the age of ten to help teach them life skills and to protect them from struggling in their future lives when they will have to compete for jobs.

These kids are a cancer to teams. Everyone knows that there are always kids with bad attitudes that do not care; therefore, kids that act like this do not deserve to have a participation trophy. They do not care about the team and some of them are very impertinent. There are even some people that are there because their parents force them to play. There parents may have been really good athletes, but their kids are not always the best. Those kids are not respectful to the team, so why should they get a trophy for that?

Support 2: My next reason why kids should not get participation trophies is that it challenges them to do their best. In many cases, some of the players on sports teams don't try their best but get rewarded for it. This creates a false reality because the rest of the players have worked hard to get to where they are. Trying your best even when you may not succeed at times is better than not trying at all.

While many writers claim that participation trophies are beneficial, writer Ashley Merryman agrees with the idea that participation trophies are more destructive than beneficial regarding the learning process of a child. The general argument made by Merryman in her work, “Forget Trophies, Let Kids Know It’s O.K. to Lose,” is that providing

When I think of trophies, I think of winning. The first thought that jumps into my head is that someone is great at a sport, or someone has an amazing talent. But is that how it should be? I don't think so. According to Parker Abate, a long-time athlete and writer for the New York Times, "the trophies that are given to less-talented athletes who participate in youth sports do not have to say “1st Place,” “M.V.P.,” or “Champion.” These young athletes should be honored in lesser ways and all deserve to feel some form of accomplishment." I completely agree with Abate's thoughts on the subject; self-esteem is a huge part of life, and watching a teammate receive a trophy while not receiving one yourself can be extremely degrading. I believe trophies should be given to all participants in an activity regardless of their abilities because it will give them all self-confidence, remind them of their activities, and because they deserve to be rewarded for their work.

Children should be given trophies based on their hard work and dedication. When a child starts something, knowing in the end that he or she will just receive a trophy no matter the outcome, then he or she feels they do not have to work as hard as if they were to have to work for that award. Not receiving a trophy could motivate a child to work hard and stay committed in that activity to achieve the best that he or she can be. “I don't care about improvement. I don't care that you're learning from your mistakes. All we expect is that you're always a winner”(Ross). This quote can offer a lot of insight. Although, it may say “I don’t care that you’re learning from your mistakes,” it only encourages learning from mistakes. If winning is the ultimate goal, children will learn from experience on what works and what does not work to help them win. Awards should be used as incentives for children to work hard. Like winning a state championship or individual wise like being a Most Valuable Player (MVP). That would show them that they out work everyone else and this is what they are rewarded

These peoples thoughts are that participation trophies don’t cause any harm. They believe that participation trophies should be given out, not to state that everyone's a winner, but to congratulate young athletes on their time and effort put forth to compete. At the same time, they also believe that there is nothing wrong with celebrating a child’s achievement with a trophy that will make them happy, but not leave a lasting effect on their life (Website #1). However, even though it doe congratulate them for their effort, it also tells them that they will always win. Many people say that these participation trophies won’t leave a lasting impact on a child’s life, but you never know, maybe that one little trophy will cause them to become full of themselfs and narcissistic. All I’m saying is that It’s fine to acknowledge a child’s achievements, but participation trophies don’t do that. They show kids that they don’t need to work hard to

First of all, trophies can lose their meaning if they’re given to everyone. When I was in the early years of elementary in gym class, we would often play games such as soccer, basketball, and other activities the coaches made, but once every year, the school would hold a field day filled with sports and games. No matter what occurred, they would give out participation ribbons to everyone. This easily began to taste like mashed potatoes. For similar reasons, it’s best

Do you remember when you played little league sports as a kid and at the end of the season you get the little gold-painted plastic man. Participation trophies are not a good thing because it teaches today's youth that it is acceptable not to work hard and that you deserve gratification for just taking part.